how do i know which moving average to use?...say for the nyse, nasdaq, etc..for a 5 day time frame?


thanks

hi wasabi,

really depends on your trading strategy -- there are tons of ways to use moving averages. personally, i prefer to use a number of different time frames, and to use exponential moving averages, as a way of gauging the direction of the trend.

david has a nice video on moving averages that is worth checking out, in my opinion.

It really depends if you are a long term investor or a short-term trader such as myself.

First of All I choose 3 Moving Averages the 200 Day MA (WEIGHT) for the apparent trend, the 5 day MA(EMA) and the 20 day MA (EMA).I choose these 2 moving averages for a specific reason that there are 5 working days in a week and 20 working days average a month. These two moving averages supply crossover buy and sell signals, in the direction of the trend. e.g. If the short-term MA crosses over the longer-term MA it is suppose to forecast a continued uptrend and Vice Versa.

For long-term investment, a popular approach to moving averages is 100 day MA (weight), 50 Day MA and 100 day MA for Buy/sell Crossovers..

Hope this Helps
T